Good evening all. In the first blog of my lifetime, I would like to give everyone an idea as to why I am finally joining the blog fad. After graduating from college with degrees in mathematics, economics and spanish, I decided to join the American workforce in finance. The purpose of my blog is to help the average person comprehend what exactly is happening in the market and what the politicians are doing and/or not doing to help the average American. I am not rich nor in the position to inherit a lot of money from relatives. I worked hard to be where I am today and so did my family. I think it is important to make that point clear because I will be blogging about the economy and politics and many people have biased judgments due to their ability to inherit millions of dollars from their parents' hard work. The purpose of this blog is to help the average person understand the complexity of the capital markets. I will do my best to post accurate information and well thought out opinions, but I'm sure mistakes will be made. Please feel free to comment on anything that you feel is inaccurate.
Given what is happening in the market, I thought my first blog would describe the financial bailout by the Federal Reserve and Treasury that is currently being debated in Congress. It is 12:15 on a Wednesday night (morning if you want to get technical with me) and I have to work a full day tomorrow explaining the ramifications of a Fed bailout to hundreds of clients, so I don't really feel like getting into this matter. I will follow up with posts on this issue that will hopefully help the average taxpayer understand what Hank Paulson is proposing and how we got in this position. Tonight I would like to focus on another event (did I mention in the description of this blog that I will not only be discussing economics and finance? I will also be blogging about my opinions on politics and other matters that arise in my everyday life). Let's continue with my Wednesday:
Every Wednesday, I play in a kickball league. I just joined two weeks ago and it has been the best decision of my life since moving to Boston 2 short years ago. We get together every Wednesday and have some drinks and play the sport that we all adored as elementary school students. For me, it is a great release from the stress and complexities of the financial market. It allows me to let loose with my peers and take out my frustration on a red playground ball. Having a few beers and playing kickball has been a great escape for me during the last few weeks of market turmoil....until tonight.
Tonight, we played a team that was clearly more prepared than us. I made my typical rude and crude comments, but as always, I followed up with some indication that I am just joking and having a good time. We lost for the first time in 3 weeks tonight. We were outplayed and the opposing team deserved the win. Just like the Bad News Bears, we shake hands at the end of the game. One gentleman this evening refused to shake my hand. Granted I had a few drinks earlier in the night, but I was always in a jovial mood during the game. I had a great time with this individual's teammates, but he still refused to shake my hand.
To me, there are three ways for a guy to truly disrespect another guy. The first is to kick him in the balls. I do not know any man who would do this under any circumstances, so let's assume it never happens. The second way to disrespect your fellow dude is to steal his girlfriend/wife. Not cool. Enough said there. The third way to disrespect your fellow dude is to refuse to shake their hand after a sporting event. Even hockey players who fight until the other can't continue shake hands at the end of the game. Ultimate fighters that knock each other unconcious during a fight still hug at the end of the match. It is a sign of mutual respect and understanding.
We are playing fucking kickball. I don't mean to put the sport below Olympic Sports, but it is just a game made popular by 8 year olds that adults are finally seeing how fun it can be, with or without a 40 of Coors. I am usually very open, but not necessarily in agreement, with the opinions and beliefs of others. Either way, I still have the courtesy and respect to listen to another person's beliefs. I still do not know why this individual refused to shake my hand tonight. He is not a drinker, nor did he agree with my decision to pitch with a 40 in my hand tonight, but that does not really matter. At the end of the night, you put your differences aside and shake hands like gentleman. I do not feel like I did anything tonight to offend this young man or his teammates. In fact, I enjoyed a few beers with some of his teammates during the game and at the bar after our unfortunate loss.
In the future, I probably will not comment on these trivial issues. I would rather discuss what a CDS is and why our politicians do not understand the gravity of the situation in the financial markets today. But this trivial argument with an ignorant individual is important to me. It shows how broken our country truly is. This gentleman could not even stomach his own pride and simply give me a handshake signifying that we all played a good, fun game but the better team (his own team) won tonight. It is time for everyone to put their pride aside and make decisions that will benefit all Americans. Many who read this may think that it is a stretch to compare kickball to politics, but I respectfully disagree. Politicians are just as childish as this individual who refused to shake my hand in a game of kickball tonight. There is a reason that our Founding Fathers never mentioned political parties. They had the intelligence and insight to understand how difficult it is to run a government where only two opposing parties have a fighting chance to make it to Washington. That is not American. Let's put our differences/political views aside for once and do what is best for all of America. I hope my future posts will help clarify exactly what is going on Wall Street and in D.C. and how it affects the average person. For now, I am off to bed with the hope that our Congress can quickly pass the proposed legislation and save us all from the Great Depression #2 - more to follow tomorrow about the economy as stated previously. I also hope that I will finally be able to shake my opponent's hand next Wednesday at kickball. Let's put our differences aside, stop bashing each other and make quick and sensible decisions that will help the future generations in America.
More to come tomorrow....
3 comments:
Great blog, HIG.
what a granola crunching hippie douchebag. i bet he works for americorps.
Excellent Blog. I will not be shy to leave my comments. Keep up the GREAT work Notorious H-I-G . I will say that there are far too many weasels still loose, still doing major damage.
Post a Comment